Effect of the nanoindentation rate on the shear band formation in an Au-based bulk metallic glass

Abstract This study investigated the nanoindentation behavior of Au 49 Ag 5.5 Pd 2.3 Cu 26.9 Si 16.3 bulk metallic glass samples at loading rates ranging from 0.03 to 300 mN s −1 . Notable shear band pop-in events were observed. The pop-in size was observed to increase linearly with the load and decreased exponentially with the strain rate. A free-volume mechanism was proposed for interpreting these observations quantitatively. The results and analyses also shed light on the shear band nucleation and evolution processes in bulk metallic glasses.